


Wordless

by Abra_ca_fuck_you



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/F, Long-Distance Relationship, Love Letters, Multi, No Plot/Plotless, not completely non magical just less magical, tender letters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22421728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abra_ca_fuck_you/pseuds/Abra_ca_fuck_you
Summary: I do hope you understand, I miss you dearly.Hella and Adelaide exchange letters between the Last University and AdulariaAdularia is a physical place in Hieron in this au, and Adelaide isn't a god. We're in a slightly less metaphysical version of Hieron I guess.
Relationships: Adaire Ducarte/Adelaide Tristé/Hella Varal, Adaire Ducarte/Hella Varal, Adelaide Tristé/Hella Varal
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Secret Samol 2019





	Wordless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greentree99](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greentree99/gifts).



_ I do hope you understand, I miss you dearly. _ _   
_ _ All is well in Adularia, of course. Would be better if you were here. _ _   
_ _ When I listen to courtiers, I try to imagine you sitting beside my throne, my hand in your hair. But I know you wouldn’t sit still. Even I’ll admit, they are very boring. _ _   
_ _ You would have something to say about all of it. Even if you didn’t share until we were alone in our chambers, and I’d listen closely. You’re sharper than they give you credit for at The University. _

_ This visitor today, she insisted that she knew the truth, of a threat to our lives and deaths. Even when I asked her to leave, she pleaded, warning me of the Dark Sun. Amity tried to walk her out of the room peacefully, but she insulted him, spitting vitriol. He however was stoic.  _

_ “We do not humor gossip or conspiracy in the Court of Pearls.” _

_ Maybe if you were there, we could have understood what ailed her, assuage her fears. But we merely escorted her out, turned her away. But what she was saying, it didn’t make sense. _

  
Adaire’s breath was hot in Hella’s ear. She loomed as Hella tried to write, rolling the pen in her hand, splattering ink on the paper.  
“Hard?” Adaire asked. Hella laughed, and turned her face up to Adaire’s.  
“She’s so much better at this.”  
“Writing?” Hella nods, and leans back against Adaire. “I don’t think it matters what you say. Just that it comes from you.”

There’s ink staining her stubby nails, bitten short over the anxious years. It had been so long since she could rest her hand on Adelaide’s delicate shoulder. Hella wonders if she still wears those silk shirts, held shut with a single button of abalone.

Adaire begins to rub Hella’s shoulders, “Perhaps you can return to this tomorrow?”

“It’s been a week already,” Hella protests, “She’s expecting a response soon.”

“I can give you something to write about…”

_ I enjoyed your last letter, more than you could know. _

_ Rather than wearing your gift, I turn it over and over in my fingers. You said it was Adaire who... located it. That becomes obvious if I think about it. Somehow. If you’d picked it out, it’d be pearls, wouldn’t it? But this is moonstone. I know you don’t care much for this sort of symbolism but with all the traveling the two of you do, I hope you carry some moonstone too. _

_ I went out on the lake last night, and from a distance the water was like glass. But when I leaned over the edge (I know you hate that) and held my hand out over the water, it seemed to quiver. I’d attribute it to Amity’s oar, I can’t help but think of the dragon you told me about. Bones, clawing themselves from the dirt. _

Seeing her again left Hella breathless, wordless. Hella turns the moonstone over in her hand, the stone is cool against her sweaty palms. Adelaide had given it to her, with a red ribbon tied around it. 

Adelaide has the long hair that Hella’s lifestyle never afforded, and Adaire never desired. That upon her arrival, Blue J begged to braid with flowers from the new spring. She smiled, and promised them it could happen soon.

When Adelaide goes to take her hand, Hella drops the stone into her pocket, and wipes her palms on the coarse fabric of her pants. When they walk, hand in hand, Hella can feel the weight of the stone against her thigh.

“Show me your favorite parts of The University?” Adelaide asks. Hella leans into her shoulder and agrees, leading Adelaide first to the boat house. Hella has something of a workbench, a piece of driftwood on top of two sawhorses. Sketches and notes are strewn across the surface, drawings of rings and swords and celestial bodies. But also documents, detailing housing, guard rotations, and more.

“When Adaire, Lem, and I first returned from Aubade, they didn’t really give me a workspace. So I made one. I don’t think anyone, other than Adaire, really knows it’s here.”

There's a gentle herbaceous smell from the herbs hanging to dry over the desk. 

“Before I lost that ring, I really thought I was making progress. But now I’m busy deciding who gets to live in the new houses we’re constructing.”

“And there’s no right answer.”

“Yeah.”

“You've made a nice place here,” Adelaide says, placing a warm hand on Hella’s shoulder. Hella nods, and leads Adelaide out of the room.

It felt to Hella that, even with all the distance there was between them, there never was any space for words. And on the last day of Adelaide’s visit, the quiet was heavier than ever. It wasn’t just pleasure, Adelaide and Ephrim made agreements between Adularia and the Last University. The growing settlements knew that they at least could rely on one another, even if they hadn’t that much to offer. 

And now, flower petals spil from Adelaide’s hair into the damp grass, marking her path. She and Hella were to join Adaire tonight. There was a party planned at Rix and Roe’s hovel, but the hosts turned out to be pranking everyone they had invited.

“No one’s taught those kids any sort of manners,” Adaire chuckles as she meets them at the top of the hill.

Adelaide smiles in her magnanimous way, “Someone’s gotta push the boundaries around here.”

Adaire pulls a light cotton blanket from her back, and begins to spread it on the grass, “There are some amazing shooting stars predicted for tonight.”

“Where are they to fall?” Hella asks, as she helps Adaire with the blanket.

“Somewhere to the north?” Adelaide suggests.

Hella shakes her head, suddenly not wanting to think about it. “Let’s just watch.”

The three of them settle on their backs, no one wanting to share any sort of a goodbye. Hella feared they hadn’t made proper use of their time together. But they were all so busy, this is one of the few moments of respite during the extended weekend visit. They watch as shuddering, screaming stars careen through the sky. 

When finally, without checking their watches, all knew they had to leave, Hella had a letter prepared. It was in a small square envelope of rough hewn paper. She placed it in Adelaide’s hand and wordlessly embraced her. Adaire too came up behind Adelaide, resting her forehead on the nape of her neck, and running her fingers over Hella’s knuckles.

Adelaide had a long ride by carriage the next morning to return to Adularia. She couldn’t just rest her eyes and doze off. She knows Hella must have woken up with the suns rise that morning, to oversee the day’s first guard rotation. Adaire is nearly nocturnal however, probably napping in a strange corner, if not working on mobilizing the rambunctious Rix and Roe towards something productive.

She peels the wax seal from Hella’s letter and opens it.

_ I want you to know, even if I am loyal to the University, I will always be your knight, and I will always be fighting for Adularia. _

_ It’s hard for me to articulate this, even with Adaire and Hadrian’s help. _

_ But I am dedicated to you, in a way that words cannot describe. There is a place for you forever in my heart, beside Adaire. _

_ It pains me to have you so far away. But distance makes the heart grow fonder. _

Adelaide smiles at the tired turn of phrase

_ I couldn’t let you leave, not knowing this. That I am wordless around you. _

**Author's Note:**

> I struggled a bit writing this for the deadline, so I will hopefully come back and update this. Secret Samol has been such a good experience, I hope you enjoy this sop fest, greentree!


End file.
